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2011 St. Innocent "Villages Cuvée" Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

SKU #114905192 points
Wine & Spirits

Mark Vlossak combines fruit from Vitae Springs, Zenith, Temperance Hill and Momtazi for a steal of a pinot. It’s all red cherry fruit and mocha in aroma at first; with air, a pleasing, spiced tobacco note emerges. The flavors are delicious and forward, the texture supple and velvety, generous to a fault and brought home by modest tannins.
(8/2013)

90 points
Wine Spectator

Tight, focused and juicy, with blackberry and currant fruit playing against mineral flavors and tangy acidity as the finish lingers enticingly. Drink now through 2017. 2,940 cases made.
(2/2013)

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Largely from Vitae Springs with small lots of Zenith, Freedom Hill and Momtazi, the St. Innocent 2011 Pinot Noir Villages Cuvee is what its author characterizes as "a Beaune-Villages style and fish wine. I used to have young vines to do something lighter with," he explains "but now I have to think-through stylistically what makes sense." Tart and crisp-edged fresh red currant, sour cherry and cranberry are tinged with saliva-liberating salinity on a fine-grained palate. Incisive sensations of berry seed-crunching and piquancy of fruit pit and nuts add invigoration to a refreshing and palate-cleansing finish. This excellent value is going to prove distinctively and deliciously versatile at table through at least 2016, and it will be fascinating to witness just what changes it undergoes. (And there are some 3,000 cases.)
(10/2013)

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

Light, bright red. High-pitched redcurrant and strawberry aromas are complemented by deeper notes of sassafras and licorice. Taut and focused on entry, then fleshier and sweeter in the mid-palate, offering energetic red fruit flavors and hints of orange pith and white pepper. Closes with good lift and cut, leaving a spicy note behind.
(8/2013)

Product Reviews:

This is the kind of Pinot that left me wanting more! After tasting this in a big line up of domestic wines, Cinnamon and I bought a bottle to drink with dinner. She prepared pork tonkatsu, rice and some spicy bok choy and this was the perfect partner to the crispy panko covered pork. The light bodied Villages Cuvee from Saint Innocent has great high toned red cherry fruit and a touch of herbal complexity and earth. I thought its bright, pure, crunchy flavor profile was very refreshing with the fried food. If you are looking for something light and charming in Oregon Pinot, look no further!

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Pinot Noir

- One of France's most legendary grapes and the grape that earned Burgundy its reputation. The parent of varietals like Pinot Gris/Grigio and Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir is blue to violet to indigo in color with relatively thin skins, and it is said to have been cultivated in France for more than 2,000 years. At its best, Pinot Noir creates elegant wines that are filled with primary red fruit aromas and flavors while young, revealing with an array of secondary characteristics like earth, smoke, violet, truffle and game with age. The varietal is also known, perhaps better than any, for its ability to translate terroir, or a sense of place. While the best Pinot Noir still comes from Burgundy, it is being produced with increasing success in cooler climates around the world. In France, it is part of the trifecta of grapes that can go into Champagne, and it is also grown in Alsace, Irancy, Jura, Savoie, Lorraine and Sancerre. Outside of France it is produced under the names Pinot Nero and Blauburgunder in Italy's mountainous regions, as Spätburgunder in Germany and as Blauburgunder in Austria. In the US, Pinot Noir has found suitable growing conditions in the cooler parts of California, including Carneros, the Russian River Valley, the Anderson Valley, the Sonoma Coast, Monterey County, the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County, as well as in Oregon's Willamette Valley. In recent years, New Zealand has demonstrated its ability to interpret this hard-to-grow varietal, with successful bottlings coming from careful and attentive growers in Central Otago, Martinborough and Canterbury. Chile is also an up-and-coming region for Pinot Noir, creating fresh, fruit-forward, early-drinking and affordable Pinots from the coastal Casablanca Valley and the Limari Valley.

Country:

United States

- When people consider domestic wine, they normally think about the state of California. The fine viticultural Region within California, including the Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, Mendocino and Santa Barbara, are capable of growing grapes of world-class quality. But there's plenty of fabulous wine coming from other states, too. Oregon, Washington and New York are also causing eyebrows (and glassware) to be raised around the world. Click for a list of bestselling items from the United States.

Sub-Region:

Oregon

- Highly touted for its Pinot Noirs, Oregon is part of the up-and-coming winemaking industry in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Most of Oregon is directly affected by the climate coming off of the Pacific Ocean, giving it mild winters and wet summers. This makes it a difficult place to ripen grapes, but some say that the harder grapes have to struggle, the more complex they will turn out to be. Chardonnay and Pinot Gris are two important and successful grapes grown in Oregon.